


Icarus

by batterwitch_dumb_basses



Series: Icarus Rising [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Chatlogs, Multi, it's gonna be a slow burn my lads, the original characters are more because of the setting, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2019-10-25 01:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 18,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17715086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batterwitch_dumb_basses/pseuds/batterwitch_dumb_basses
Summary: When Sollux messages Eridan in the middle of the night, he isn't expecting much. Eridan hasn't been around for a sweep, and nobody quite knows what happened to him after Feferi challenged the Empress and escaped.But Eridan has been shipped off to the military, and something is not quite right. Little clues escape between his words, and the clock keeps turning out of sync with every passing second.





	1. (Night 1) Do Amporas Dream of Screaming Trees?

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  caligulasAquarium [CA]  
TA: hey here2 a thought for you two ponder over  
TA: what iif plant2 2creamed when you cut them down?  
CA: are you fuckin wwith me right noww  
TA: ju2t a2 you go to chop down a tree   
TA: iit beg2 for iit2 liife and 2tart2 holleriing  
CA: did you eat sopor or somefin  
CA: nevver fuckin mind  
caligulasAquarium [CA]  blocked  twinArmegeddons [TA]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little bit of background before this all starts:
> 
> I first started writing this in Sixth Form, back when I had the fresh experience of a free period, and sometimes, nothing to do with it. The result was the early version of this work. It was my pride and joy and I loved updating it, as, out of all of the pieces on my profile, it was perhaps the one I felt was actually worth anything. The others took time and a whole bunch of effort to write, and this one was slightly less like swimming in custard.
> 
> However, last year, I decided to up my fanfiction game, and completely wiped my profile of all works. The only one I regretted destroying was the baby version of this one.
> 
> This takes place when everyone is 9 sweeps old, and when nobody has heard from Eridan or Feferi for around a sweep. It is set in a world where the Alternian military is something to behold, and dependent on your blood colour, you might find yourself in a higher place. However, seeing as outright killing trolls who’ve made it to adulthood isn’t as productive as using them as cannon fodder, there are certain ships that are known for making or breaking trolls. The game SGRUB was never played, and neither was SBURB. More will be revealed as this goes on.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.


	2. (Night 2) What the Fuck?

twinArmegeddons [TA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]  
TA: fiir2t off, numbnut2, blocking me doe2nt work  
TA: II have known how to hack iinto your account 2iince the 2econd tiime we 2poke, whiich mean2 II can ju2t unblock my2elf  
TA: you know, the account where you kept the 2ame 2tupiid prediictable pa22word  
TA: 2econd of all, are you fuckiing kiiddiing me? you’re fuckiing ALIIVE?  
TA: II only me22aged you becau2e II diidnt thiink you’d re2pond, 2eeiing a2 you ran off a2 2oon a2 the 2hiit went down  
TA: where the fuck have you been?  
TA: you do realii2e that AG went to your hiive and found that all your 2hiit wa2 gone  
TA: we thought you maybe moved or 2ome 2hiit but you diidnt an2wer ANYBODY.  
TA: and you an2wer my 2tupid iin2omniia me22age? what the fuck ii2 up wiith your priioriitiie2  
CA: i happen to be vvery busy at the moment  
CA: could you kindly fuck off so that i dont get in trouble for attendin my personal matters?  
CA: I wwill message you later  
TA: all the2e 2weep2 later and you 2tiill have that 2tiick up your a22  
CA: captor i am serious  
CA: i promise to message later but right noww i have wwork to do  
TA: waiit waiit waiit  
TA: work?  
TA: you of all people are working?  
CA: shit  
CA: listen my boss is circling so you need to go, im supposed to be inputting a report  
CA: i promise i wwill tell you more later  
caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]


	3. (Night 2, Part 2) No, You Shut Up

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]  
TA: oh 2o now hii2 royal paiin in the a22 deiign2 to me22age me  
TA: iit2 been 2even hour2 you douchecanoe  
CA: i told you i had to wwork  
CA: but i did promise to explain  
CA: so howw this happened isnt exactly a good thing but essentially i might be sort of off planet  
TA: explaiin2 the weiird IIP  
TA: whiich colony diid you end up at  
CA: im not exactly on any of them for long  
TA: the fuck doe2 that mean?  
CA: you remember after the incident wwhen shit wwent dowwn and nobody kneww wwhere fef wwas  
TA: ii got que2tiioned by the2e 2cary a22 iimperiial detectyrant2  
TA: of cour2e ii remember  
CA: wwell because of lifespan reasons they decided a lot of you wwere no threat  
CA: they can wwait for you to die and it wwont be any trouble  
CA: but because i dont have that problem  
TA: you can be 2o fuckiing obnoxiiou2 2ometiime2  
CA: shut up a minute  
CA: im trying to explain here like you wwanted and youre bein fuckin rude and interruptin me like a snotfaced douchebag  
TA: you 2hut up  
CA: anywway  
CA: interruptions notwwithstandin  
CA: they decided gettin me as physically far awway as possible from wwhere fef might be wwas a vviable solution to their troubles  
CA: so i wwas put into the military and noww my life is so dumb and evveryone hates me  
CA: its disturbin howw familiar it is  
TA: the fuckiing military?!  
TA: are you fuckiing kiiddiing me?  
TA: they put you iin the miiliitary?!  
CA: not wwhere i wwould havve been  
CA: im a lowwer soldier and they keep an eye on me in case im plottin against the empress or somefin  
TA: what the fuck  
CA: i livve in shared quarters  
CA: and i hate my bunkmates  
CA: theyre so fuckin dumb  
CA: im pretty sure these are the wworst offenders out of evveryone here  
CA: this ship is wwhere they put everyone wwho fucks up  
TA: what the actual fuck  
CA: my quarters are full of idiots  
CA: first you havve denebe wwho annoys the shit out of me  
CA: i take back evverything i evver said about nep, this fucker is the wworst olivveblood in the wworld  
CA: i asked what he did and he cackled  
CA: he bites as wwell  
TA: ii dont even know what the fuck to 2ay  
TA: you got 2hiipped off becau2e of your 2tupiid blood that you alway2 brag about?  
CA: also because of my connection to fef  
CA: sorry  
CA: The Usurpess  
CA: thats her title accordin to the database  
TA: holy fucknugget2  
CA: theres also carina wwho is the biggest bitch on the ship  
CA: includin my boss wwho is insufferable  
CA: shes stabby  
TA: 2tabby i2nt a per2onaliity traiit  
CA: youd think  
TA: iit ii2nt  
CA: its like extra trainin  
CA: i get ready to sleep an she just tries to stab someone  
CA: but if it happens to be the third fuckbastard i dont intervvene  
CA: hes such a stupid fuck wwho thinks hes friends wwith the rest of us  
CA: the ship routine is so repetitivve as wwell  
CA: but its dowwntime right noww  
TA: ampora are you 2eriiou2  
TA: you – of all troll2- are on a miiliitary 2hiip  
CA: get this  
CA: im technically an imperial officer  
CA: this is so fuckin stupid and i hate it  
TA: ii would have thought youd be iin your pompou2 element  
TA: iin place to be liike the great miiliitary commander2  
CA: are you fuckin kiddin me  
CA: this is nothin like that  
CA: captor im in hell and even if most people think thats wwhat i deservve i dont evven havve the energy to blame them anymore  
CA: this is hell  
TA: yeah ii thiink a lot of u2 would 2ay that 2ound2 about right  
TA: what 2hiip ii2 iit?  
CA: the alecto  
CA: it wwas commissioned by our empress the last time someone challenged her and lost  
CA: one of three such ships  
CA: theres also tisiphone and megaera  
CA: but yeah evveryone here is an idiot with wweapon proficiency and the fact that im evven wwillin to talk to you should speak more of my situation than vvantas speakin about romantic films  
TA: eriidan  
TA: you are an iidiiot wiith weapon profiiciiency  
CA: no, im an intellectual wwith moronic tendencies wwho happens to be proficient wwith wweapons  
CA: im talkin about people wwho make eq look qualified to be a diplomaimer  
CA: or me for that matter  
TA: ii 2tiill cant beliieve thii2 ii2 even po22iible  
TA: you got punii2hed becau2e youre viiolet  
TA: iit would be under2tandable iif iit wa2 ju2t your per2onaliity but  
TA: becau2e of your blood?  
CA: dont forget im also the former moirail  
CA: that probably swwung it  
CA: wwhat about you, wwhat are you up to these days  
TA: what the fuck  
TA: 2o fiir2t you tell me you got 2hiipped to the miiliitary  
TA: next you a2k me how ii am  
TA: diid they giive you a lobotomy or 2ome 2hiit liike that  
CA: wwell fuck you too  
CA: or should i say, fuck you twwo  
TA: never 2ay two agaiin  
TA: that wa2 an abomiinatiion  
CA: ugh  
CA: nevvermind  
caligulasAquarium [CA] blocked twinArmageddons [TA]


	4. (Night 3) Hey, Look at That, We're Both Assholes

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]  
TA: agaiin, hackiing iinto your account ii2 2tupiidly ea2y  
TA: 2eriiou2ly, ii told you that ii can hack iin and you diidnt even change the pa22word?  
TA: ii know youre onliine  
CA: you sound creepy as fuck  
CA: wwhats wwrong wwith you  
CA: i already told you, these are wwork hours  
TA: well look2 liike ii lii2ten a2 well a2 you do  
TA: and you dont  
CA: sollux captor i am fuckin wworkin  
CA: get lost  
TA: you know what  
TA: youre 2tiill an a22hole  
CA: same to you  
CA: actually scratch that youre actin like a petulant grub wwhen their lusus doesnt pay them any attention  
TA: fuck off  
TA: iif you were a lu2u2 you would have diied and been eaten by that mon2tro2iity of FF’2  
CA: oh fuck you  
CA: wwhat do you evven wwant  
TA: huh  
CA: wwell youre trollin me  
CA: surely you havve a point or somefin  
TA: of cour2e ii have a poiint  
TA: why the fuck diidnt you contact anyone  
CA: wwhy wwould i  
CA: you all havve made it pretty clear howw you feel about me  
CA: and ivve done the same wwith you  
CA: wwhy wwould you care if I wwas alivve or not  
TA: we 2tiill dont want you dead  
CA: vvris does  
CA: wwhen she aint got hotter irons in her shitty little fire  
TA: ii thiink VK wantiing to kiill you ii2 more of a riite of pa22age at thii2 poiint than anythiing el2e  
CA: you got a good point there  
TA: youre beiing the creepy one now  
TA: 2tealiing my goddamn thunder  
CA: wwell youvve been creepy for swweeps  
CA: i really am busy though  
CA: inputtin another report and cross referencin across our ships database to see if theres any neww info i should be addin  
CA: mind numbin stuff  
TA: ugh  
TA: fiine  
TA: when are you free to actually talk more  
CA: no youre the creepy one again  
CA: since wwhen do you ask to talk to me  
TA: ii hate iit too  
TA: but  
CA: same time as i wwas yesterday  
CA: i get twwo hours of dowwntime  
CA: wwhich should play into your wwhole wweird double thin  
TA: iim liiterally beggiing you not two 2ay two agaiin  
TA: you mangle iit beyond redemptiion  
CA: sassafras  
TA: haha, go fuck your2elf  
CA: i only get twwo hours of dowwntime and you already said you wwanted some of that  
CA: so thanks but no thanks  
CA: ill be too busy otherwwise  
TA: fuckiing 2marta22  
TA: and dont thiink ii diidnt catch that two  
CA: i didnt mean twwo annoy you  
TA: you have your own bull2hiit typiing 2tyle  
TA: get off of miine  
CA: okay okay  
CA: but like i said im busy  
TA: then go  
CA: fine  
caligulasAquarium [CA] blocked twinArmageddons [TA]  
TA: motherfucker


	5. (Night 3) It's Too Early For This Bullshit

Your name is Sollux Captor and you have been pretty bored lately, but it looks like things just got a whole lot more interesting, as of a couple of nights ago.

Not that you’d ever tell Eridan you find anything involving him interesting.

However, for once this week, you’re kind of okay with your returning insomnia, given that it’s planted this whole thing in your lap. Even if it has been unbearable lately. It wasn’t this bad until a week ago, but you’ve been assured by the medicarnage that everything is fine – just a normal reaction to your moirail going off-planet. It should, if you keep taking the meds she gave you, calm down within the next week.

The trouble is, you’re not great at remembering your meds without someone to prompt you, and if you can’t remember if you have, you aren’t supposed to take them in case you get a double dose. It’s stupid, but you’re going to have to discuss it with the medicarnage at your next appointment. She’s a really nice bronze with a sunny smile, but you still can’t quite get rid of the feeling that you’re bothering her with your stupid bullshit. You are, after all, a fucking genius who should be able to do something about this.

You’re currently experimenting with coding a timely reminder that will flash up on all your devices when you need to take your meds, so that whatever you’re using, it’ll still remind you. It’s pretty simple, but you get bored of coding it easily, and only remember to work on it when you’re already staying up well past when you should.

Brain fuckery aside, though, Eridan Ampora is not only alive, but off-planet and consigned to the military. Usually, you might message Aradia, or maybe even Kanaya, given who it is who’s decided to not be dead, but with all the mystery surrounding this, you aren’t quite sure you want to involve anyone else just yet.

You think for a minute, log back on, and read back through the transcripts, opening a new document in another window on your husk top. You’re like your own detectyrant here as you note down what you’ve gathered from the conversation, because something is still not quite sitting right.

Number One: Eridan’s status wasn’t enough to keep him from being shipped out after Feferi escaped.

This, to you, is the biggest bit of weirdness about the whole thing. Eridan was a dick about his status back when you knew him, but Feferi was of way more importance than him, so maybe that’s what outweighs it. Still, you think it’s weird. Very weird. Maybe he just annoyed whoever was judging him.  
But if he’d had a trial, surely it would have been all over the news? You could have missed it, though – you don’t really read the news, because it’s usually all the same.  
You have a contact within the legal system, though, and you’re willing to talk to her. As she would say, she’s something of a COOL K1D.

Number Two: Eridan has a strict schedule.

This is less mysterious, but it’s at number two – the best fucking number – because you need to remember this if you want to figure this weirdness out. Like it or not, you need Ampora to be willing to talk to you, and he gets all pissy if you interrupt his work. Not that him getting pissy is anything new to anyone who’s known him for more than five seconds. He works for at least seven hours, given that he kept you waiting that long.

You still can’t wrap your head around the idea of Eridan Ampora genuinely working. He’s not the sort of troll that you’d think of as having any sort of work ethic.

But anyway.

Number Three:

His ship is the Alecto. You’re not sure how that’s important, but you note it down anyway.

Number Four:

For some reason, he thinks everyone around him has fucked up, and that makes you think maybe he did too. You’ve heard of the military being used as punishment, but not for seadwellers. Still, all of these little clues point back to your legislacerator contact.

You push yourself away from the computer and rub at your eyes, stumbling upwards. Until you talk with her, you’re better off putting the whole thing out of your head, even if just for a short while. You have a tendency to obsess over what you can’t figure out until you can do so, which makes you an excellent coder but a complete mess of a troll, so you go out to the balcony once you’ve made yourself a coffee. Which you probably shouldn’t be drinking when on what’s basically sleep medication, but you need it to be a decent troll around others, or what approaches decent.

You’re rambling, but you go out on the balcony. Your next door neighbour has filled her balcony with flowers again, and you for a minute miss your beehouse mainframes when you see a small bee busying around one of the lavender plants that she seems to favour. After Bicyclops left, you didn’t exactly need to keep it up. You wonder how things are going with the new grub he’ll have by now. You’re not exactly worried, but you don’t think it’ll be easy for the grub once he pupates. It’s not like your lusus was ever high maintenance, but you did have the benefit of feeding him mind honey to keep him from being too much of a moron.

But the bees were good company, and while the hum of a computer is somewhat soothing, it’s not quite as easy as just having a soft buzz in the background. You liked the workers, but you couldn’t risk having a mind honey related accident.

You look out from the communal hive stem across the city. It’s full of pretty shoddy buildings, built for the adults like you who should be out and conquering, but aren’t.  
You might move soon, though. Probably to one of the nearest colonies, where adults who aren’t part of the imperial forces are urged to go, with the exception of jadebloods. You don’t want to leave Alternia, because as much of a shitshow as it is, if you go, you can’t ever return. There’s a part of you that hates that.

Still. It can’t go on like this forever. Your moirail has left the planet, and you haven’t got much motivation to stay without her.

You sip your shitty instant coffee and watch with some interest as the teal kismesis of one of your downstairs neighbours storms out screaming at the top of their lungs. It’s not a healthy match, but damn, if it doesn’t provide entertainment most days. Really, they should be in clubs, with someone who can handle it in the middle, but you’re willing to bet neither of them thought that through.

The neighbour appears - a goldblood, like you - and throws something at them, screaming at the top of their lungs as well. God, but they’re shrill – a whiny rising pitch to the argument is added the moment they open their mouth. You wait. You know what’s coming next.

You hear footsteps and the balcony door slams open next to you, and you are greeted by the sight of an extremely pissed off female troll in a green dressing gown, standing among the lavender she’s overpopulating her balcony with. She has a crossbow in hand, and you sip again at your coffee as she aims for the ground.

“Fucking amateurs,” you hear her grumble, and the crossbow twangs and there’s a short second of silence before an offended screech comes from the ground from both of them. She’s an olive who rarely seems to leave the hive stem, and you see her do this every time those two kick off. To her credit, she’s never actually hit them.  
Not to yours, if it was you, you’d make sure you did. Nothing lethal, though.

You peer down, and see the kismesis brandishing the crossbow bolt at your downstairs neighbour like he was the one who fired it. Yep, those two are headed up shit creek alright.

You’re starting to find it less funny as time goes on, though. It’s part of the reason you’re leaning towards moving off planet, but you’ve got the feeling it would just be more of the same. Trolls are assholes no matter where you go. Even if your moirail has left Alternia, you still find it hard to let go of this rotting place.  
You go back inside, leaving the two kismeses to scream at each other.

After a shower and some crackers and grubsauce, you start messaging your contact for the info. It’s a tough case, but she’s the best person to help you crack it. Luckily, she’s online. You hope she’s in a good mood.

twinArmageddons [TA] started trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
TA: hey TZ ii need a favour  
GC: YOU H4V3 R34CH3D TH3 D3SK OF T3R3Z1 PYROP3  
GC: PL34S3 L34V3 4 M3SS4G3   
GC: B33P BOOP  
TA: me22age: ii have 2ome juiicy new2 for you iif you do what ii a2k  
GC: > : ?  
TA: 2o you know when iit all kiicked off wiith FF  
GC: Y34H  
GC: 1 H4PP3N TO KNOW 4LL 4BOUT TH4T   
GC: 1 W4S K1ND4 TH3R3   
TA: well   
TA: ii need you to acce22 the fiile2 regardiing everyone2 iinterviiew2  
TA: they 2hould be on your databa2e riight  
TA: you guy2 2hare iit wiith the detectyrant2 after all  
GC: 1 COULD   
GC: 1F YOU T3LL M3 WHY 1’M DO1NG 1T  
TA: well   
TA: ii ju2t cant make 2en2e of 2omethiing about iit  
TA: do you guy2 have the challenge footage two  
GC: SOLLUX  
GC: 4S MUCH 4S 1 4DOR3 B31NG SM4RT3R TH4N YOU  
GC: 1 C4N’T B3L13V3 1 H4V3 TO 3XPL41N TH4T 4S SOM3ON3 WHO W4S P4RT OF THOS3 1NT3RV13WS 1T’S GO1NG TO LOOK SUP3R SUSP1C1OUS 1F 1 PULL UP BOTH TH3 1NT3RV13W 4ND TH3 CH4LL3NG3 FOOT4G3  
GC: 4ND 1F 1 G3T C4UGHT DO1NG BOTH   
GC: BLUH  
TA: 2hiit  
TA: okay yeah youre riight  
GC: 1 C4N CH3CK OUT TH3 1NT3RV13WS THOUGH  
GC: W3’R3 3NCOUR4G3D TO R34D TR4NSCR1PTS SO W3 C4N L34RN HOW TO B3TT3R CONDUCT OUR OWN 1NT3RV13WS  
TA: wiill you?  
GC: SUR3 TH1NG  
GC: 1F YOU T3LL M3 WH4T YOU M34NT 34RL13R  
TA: ampora2 aliive  
TA: he2 been 2hiipped off to the miiliitary   
GC: W41T   
GC: WH4T  
GC: MR SOUR GR4P3S 1S 4L1V3 4ND K1CK1NG???  
TA: eiither that or hii2 gho2t ii2 both iin 2pace and iin denial  
TA: but 2ome of the 2tuff he 2aiid got me thiinkiing  
TA: why would a viioletblood get 2hiipped off wiithout more of a rea2on than 2iimply beiing friiend2 wiith the heiire22  
TA: and ii wouldnt go ahead and de2criibe tho2e two a2 be2t buddiie2  
GC: W3LL OBV1OUSLY NOT  
GC: HMMM > :[  
GC: OK4Y 1 C4N DO SOM3 D1GG1NG  
GC: BUT 1 W4NT TO KNOW HOW YOU 3ND3D UP T4LK1NG W1TH H1M  
TA: iin2omniia  
GC: F41R  
GC: 4T L34ST YOU 4R3N’T PUTT1NG W31RD STUFF 1N YOUR TH3RM4L HULL 4G41N  
TA: oh god dont remiind me  
TA: although iit miight have been better than thii2 fuckery   
GC: H3Y  
GC: 4T L34ST 1T’S 1NT3R3ST1NG  
TA: cant argue wiith that  
GC: MOR3 L1K3 C4N’T 4RGU3 W1TH M3 > :]

You two talk for a bit longer – she’s been winning the majority of the cases that she takes on, apparently, although she’s having to be in the same building as all the other teals. It's a similar situation to your communal hive stem, and apparently all the different smells are still talking time to get used too, for someone who used to live on their own. She reports with glee, however, that a certain colleague has been pitch-crushing on one of his clients and ended up unusually flustered over it, which she seems to think S3RV3S H1M R1GHT.  
She assures you that she’ll look up the statements before logging off, leaving you to wonder where this might lead. Your brain is coming back to this problem like a sore tooth, now that you’ve talked it over with TZ.  
You take off your glasses, and sigh.  
Of _course_ Eridan coming back into your life would mean this kind of thing.


	6. (Night 3) It's All Takin' and No Givin'

Your name is Eridan Ampora, and you can’t believe that you have to do this shit.

 

Firstly, your boss has to be taking the piss if she’s assigning this task to you. This could be done really easily. By the program that you know the mainframe has installed upon it. You’ve used that program before, and you know you didn’t fuck up when you were doing it, so you have no idea why you’re pulling all the records up personally on this individual that your boss is so focused on. 

 

It’s not like you could turn her down, either. She sent you a snotty message while you were halfway through your normal task of checking for new info and compiling it into the existing records. If you weren’t disgraced, you’d use every ounce of influence you had to make her pay for it - as it is, you’ll have to settle for mentally cursing her out while you do exactly what she’s asked you to do.

 

“Hey, Eridan!” Olympe, the officer who has the cubicle next to you, leans over. “How’s it going?”

 

You lower your glasses and fake a smile. “Fuckin’ _terribly._ ”

 

Olympe may be the one thing about this job that doesn’t suck, truth be told. She’s a bit peppy for your tastes - you’ve gone off of peppy people since your friendship with Fef hit the rocks - but she’s genuinely friendly, and chatting with her helps the hours go by when you’re working. 

 

“Fucking terribly?” She grins at you. “Why’s that?”

 

“W-well, Gorefang asked me to pull up details on this one guy that the Tisiphone’s chasin’, right, but w-we’v-ve got a computer program that could do the job easy, and it’s goin’ to take me _hours_.”

 

“Ooh, that’s gossip, there, Officer Ampora.” She winks at you. “Did she by any chance ask you to bring it to her personally? With all the behaviours referenced?”

 

You narrow your eyes, fighting against showing any surprise. 

 

“You know-w somethin’, Olympe.” 

 

“Sure do!” She leans forward. “That’s Crackjaw, one of our well-known criminals, right? You know how people get crushes on celebrities? Gorefang’s got a big old pitch crush on him.” 

 

You raise your eyebrows. On the records, there is a picture of this troll. He’s not exactly what you’d call a looker, yourself. His title comes from having a permanently broken jaw from a run-in with the subjuggulators. The incident report (transcribed from the bloody note) states it as being a ‘warning’, though not for what. You suspect from the other records it might have been for pissing off the subjuggulators.

 

He has one giant tusk, pushing through the other side of his mouth, and he’s grinning almost _indecently_ at the camera, too. You grimace.

 

“On this guy?” you ask, weakly. Olympe nods, looking like she’s about to burst into laughter. You feel like she’s joking, but you also get the feeling she’s telling you the absolute truth. She doesn’t usually lie, and it does make sense.

 

You groan. 

 

“Have fun with that, then!” she chirps.

 

“W-what hav-ve you got to w-work on, then, that you got the time to chat to another officer?” you ask, suspiciously. She gets a sour look on her face, just briefly.

 

“Checking for messages from the Megaera. I’ve got to send memos about any we get straight up to Gorefang’s admin team because they’re currently heading to Colony 856. Some lowblood uprising, or something like that.” She snorts. “I don’t know why they’d bother when it’s so close to the patrolled planets. It’s barely worth fighting for, either.”

 

Right on cue, her computer _dings_ and she groans, turning back to her screen and starting to type rapidly. You turn back to your own screen and try not to think too much about what she said.

 

Lowblood uprisings are being stamped on very quickly these days. It used to be that they’d send the subjuggulators and call it a day, but these days there’s much more of an Imperial show of power. You wonder if it’s because of Feferi escaping - that they want to make sure that she’s not out there somewhere raising an army. 

 

You can’t deny, either, that there are more uprisings these days. That could be any number of things, but Feferi is the first Heiress to lose and keep her life, as far as you can tell. A small chink has been shown in the Empress’ armour, but she’s still as powerful as ever. You’re not sure if the colonies will be sustainable if lowbloods keep dying.

 

You pull up the files on Colony 856 that you have access to. It’s a planet with a large ruin at the centre of the colony. The various buildings were structured around it, and the ruins themselves are used as a sort of marketplace. Over a hundred lowbloods were shipped out there, and they were due to be sent a Mothergrub soon, but that’s already been marked as a suspended program. No jadeblood worth their salt would allow a Mothergrub to be sent into danger.

 

Closing the file, you get back to work analysing Crackjaw’s records, cross-referencing behaviours to try and find common threads. You find a flagrant disregard for the law, an interest in houses of ill-repute (almost every time he was found, he was frequenting one), an apparent liking for getting into fights with imperial officers, but aside from that, you’ve got nothing. You doubt this is new information, either.

 

Still, when your shift ends, you print out everything you’ve got, including copies of the records, and put it together in a folder. You mark it with Gorefang’s name and log off your computer to start trotting over to her office.

 

Gorefang’s office looks down over the sea of desks on the 6th floor, where the officers work each day. You knock on the door, gently, and hear her sigh with exasperation.

 

“Yes, yes, come in,” she says, clearly irritated. You push the door open slowly, to see her steepling her hands as she frowns at her premium husktop. You clear your throat.

 

“You asked me to compile records on an individual?” You put it slowly on her desk, seeing something spark in her eyes. She’s definitely way too invested in this.

 

“Oh. Yes. Officer Ampora. You…”

 

Is she going to thank you? You try not to raise your eyebrows, keeping your face neutral.

 

“May go now.”

 

Ah, yeah. That’s more likely than fuckin’ Gorefang thanking _anyone._

  
  


Carina isn’t actually glaring when you walk into the cabin, ready for your downtime.

 

“Ampora, did Gorefang really make you research her spade babe?” she asks, with wide eyes. You start.

 

“How-w the _fuck_ do you know-w that?” You’re immediately suspicious (was someone eavesdropping? Is your computer bugged again?) but she just shrugs.

 

“Teals talk, dumbass.” 

 

Ah. Right. You’d forgotten that little proverb while you were chatting to Olympe. As a matter of course, anything you say _would_ have been passed along to every other teal on the ship. It won’t reach any of the higher ups, of course - but it would have reached your bunkmate pretty quickly.

 

“Yeah, she did.” You keep a wary eye on Carina as you make your way to your little bunk. 

 

“Isn’t he a criminal or some shit?” Carina plops herself down next to you, something she’s never done so casually. You screw your nose up at her.

 

“Yeah? W-why else w-would w-we hav-ve records of him, V-Vassel?” You snort, and she makes a little growling sound.

 

“Listen! I just want the info on whether she’s crushing on a legitimate scoundrel. A piratical rogue!”

 

“He goes to brothels.” You pick your husktop up. “Is that piratical enough for you?”

 

She groans. “You don’t get it at _all_. I’m starved of anything interesting, here. I have to make my own entertainment, Ampora.”

 

“I ain’t helpin’ you with that. You can look up the files on him yourself.”

 

A sharp point presses against your ribs. You didn’t even see this bitch _move_. 

 

“I said I want info, Ampora. I’m not against ruining this jacket.” 

 

It’s a white uniform jacket. It’d be a fucker to clean.

 

You hate this bitch more platonically than anyone you’ve ever met. Almost. Apart from Vriska and Captor in his heyday.

 

“He’s been attackin’ ships. I w-wouldn’t call him a pirate - he doesn’t appear to have any real crew - but he’s definitely a rogue.” You shuffle away from the knife. “She’s got a real thin’ for him, too. Her eyes w-went all sparky w-when I handed her the file, like it was Perigees’ or somethin’.”

 

She squeals, and you’re reminded of Nepeta as she springs up and starts speeding out of the cabin. Probably to go talk to one of her teal buddies. You breathe out, relieved that you don’t have to ruin another jacket, and take it off, so you’re only in your violet uniform shirt, which you unbutton a little so you can relax, rolling up the sleeves as you open your husktop up and switch it on.

 

You’re surprised to find that you’re almost looking forward to talking to Sol. Maybe that’s just the shit day you’ve had, though - maybe talking to Captor is preferable to all the bullshit currently going on around you.

 

His name’s lit up, and you click on it, unblocking him. Surprisingly, he hasn’t hacked your account to unblock himself this time.

 

You start typing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/snowwritertype


	7. (Night 3) Sollux Canonically Says Fuck

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CA: hey honey   
CA: im home  
TA: that2 iit iim blockiing you  
CA: as if  
TA: dont you ever fuckiing call me that agaiin  
TA: iit2 creepy  
CA: dont get into that mess again  
CA: my boss hijacked my shift already and ivve had all the stress i can manage for today wwithout snappin and throwwin a bitch outta the airlock  
TA: hiijacked?  
CA: eh she ovverrode my current task and gavve me one she wwanted me to do   
CA: someone else got givven my task for the shift  
CA: turns out i wwasted my time researchin her pitch crush wwho happens to be a wwanted criminal  
TA: oh ew  
CA: i knoww right  
CA: i dont wwant to think of her droolin ovver the documents i had to physically put together and take to her office  
TA: youd be lucky iif iit wa2 only drooliing 2he wa2 doiing  
CA: oh god no  
CA: dont evven  
TA: iit could bee wor2e  
TA: you could have had my problem2  
TA: my neiighbour and theiir kii2me2ii2 had another row, liike they do every tiime they attempt a hate date  
TA: iit2 liiterally more paiinful than watchiing you fliirt wiith VK ever wa2  
CA: must be a shitshoww then  
TA: iit ii2  
TA: 2o ii have an oliiveblood neiighbour who came out iin her dre22iing gown and 2hot a cro22bow bolt at them both  
CA: SERIOUSLY?  
CA: thats fuckin hilarious  
CA: wwhat happened then   
TA: oh they kiicked off agaiin   
TA: they were blamiing each other  
CA: that really does sound like a shitshoww   
TA: iit2 been le22 entertaiiniing than iit ii2 annoyiing recently   
TA: very liike you and VK were  
TA: iim thiinkiing of moviing but thered be more of the 2ame wherever ii go becau2e people 2uck no matter where you are  
CA: if you go off planet you might wwant to be careful  
TA: why  
CA: cant tell you   
CA: im not evven properly supposed to knoww about it  
TA: what do you mean  
CA: nevver you fuckin mind  
TA: ii do miind  
CA: captor i mean it  
CA: please  
TA: oh god dont 2ay that   
TA: ii 2wear iit creep2 me out when you 2ay plea2e  
TA: iit2 not liike you  
CA: it is these days  
CA: i evven said thank you to the staff in the mess hall at breakfast  
TA: tell me youre jokiing  
CA: i am  
TA: god fuckiing dammiit  
TA: well at lea2t you werent beiing 2eriiou2  
CA: as if   
CA: i fuckin hate bein here captor  
CA: teals actually do talk too  
TA: duh  
CA: anythin i say to one gets repeated around the ship until carina finds out   
CA: so i actually cant say anythin wwithout my roommate findin out wwhat that wwas  
CA: although today wwas the first time she didnt actually stab me wwhile talkin to me  
TA: ii mean   
TA: that2 progre22 ii gue22  
CA: kinda  
CA: she still blackmailed me into tellin her shit or gettin made into sashimi  
TA: 2o you told her  
CA: yeah of course  
CA: she wwas goin to ruin my uniform again   
CA: purple blood is a bitch to get out of wwhite cloth   
TA: ii mean  
TA: ii wouldnt know   
CA: trust me on that one  
CA: any blood is a bitch to removve  
CA: but purple is just the wworst  
TA: well ii can defiiniitely beliieve that   
CA: oh shut up   
TA: no no  
TA: ii agree wiith you   
TA: purple ii2 the wor2t  
CA: youre so annoyin   
CA: i forgot how ANNOYIN you are  
TA: out of the two of u2  
TA: you dont have any riight to call anyone annoyiing  
TA: fuck eriidan liive2  
CA: go suck a bulge   
CA: oh my god i cant believve im wwastin my dowwntime like this   
TA: but you are  
TA: 2o how come youre workiing 2o hard  
CA: imperial admin is a bitch  
CA: a lot of our wwork is updatin the system wwith all the neww info that the other ships get  
TA: liike what  
CA: like neww info on wwanted criminals  
CA: incident reports  
CA: activve subjuggulators  
CA: its all got to be kept up to date  
CA: i also gotta train myself   
TA: what doe2 that mean   
CA: wwe havve to spar evvery day   
CA: im pretty good but a lot of it is about lettin out the aggression that builds up betwween us all   
CA: carina is usually my sparrin partner to be honest wwith you but only because she likes tryin to beat the shit outta me  
TA: 2ound2 liike 2hiit  
CA: you dont fuckin say captor  
CA: im the one livvin it   
TA: but why   
TA: ii dont know why youre 2tuck there  
TA: you mu2t have done 2omethiing  
CA: i wwas the former moirail of the usurpess  
CA: that wwas enough to swwing it  
TA: then you mu2t have had a really 2hiit legi2lacerator   
CA: yeah   
CA: pretty much   
CA: im gonna hit the hay actually  
CA: gotta be up early to get any breakfast  
TA: okay  
TA: can ii me22age you tomorrow   
CA: i get the feelin you wwould evven if i said no  
CA: so sure  
caligulasAquarium [CA] stopped trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]


	8. (Night 4) The Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see a different perspective.

Your name is unimportant.

 

Perhaps it’s enough to say that you would have been an excellent person to weigh in on what’s currently going on, if you happened to know about it. Unfortunately, you haven’t had internet access for a long time. It’s one of the perks of having to live out in the wild, where you shouldn’t even scream out loud in case you attract lusii.

 

You’re not the first to have done it. You’re probably the only one to do it with another person’s interest at heart, though. You always swore you’d never end up like the one before you, but here you are, living out where no one can find you, just like he did.

 

It’s a bit bad that you have to do it with someone else, though. You guys barely know how to make this work. She’s sheltered. You’re not great with technology. Neither of you knows enough about basic stuff to be able to do this on your own, and learning to rely on each other has taken its toll on both of you.

 

Your days are simple. She’ll check on the little garden that she somehow managed to cultivate, first thing in the morning, and then make sure that you’re okay after the long night. She’s going to try experimenting with lavender bags, she says; but until she makes it work, you both have the worst nightmares. You dream of chains, of arrows plunging through your chest, and everyone watching. No one lifts a hand to help. You dream of screaming out your last words until they rip your throat raw, only to wake covered in sweat. When that happens, you look across and see her frowning and turning over.

She says she dreams of being alone. Horribly alone, in a vacuum of space where she cannot even speak, because the noiselessness drowns her out. She reaches out, sometimes, and only brings back severed hands, dripping with many colours.

 

Once you’re both up, you have breakfast. It’s usually fruit she recognises as good - but if she doesn’t recognise it, she’s to leave it. After breakfast, you’ll go out and search for anything that’ll make decent kindling. You insist she stays in the cavern, but sometimes you bring her things from outside. 

 

Nice smooth stones. 

 

A flower that a bee was buzzing around.

 

A plant you recognised from her little garden.

 

But the best thing you bring her is your memory. You can remember the plots of a lot of different things, and you can tell her stories to fill the time. She never tires of them, she says. You think she’s lying, but you can’t prove it.

 

You try to make sure you can gather enough to eat. You were here before she was, so you have more things, you know more, but not enough. It’s weird to see you both dressed the same - her, with her hair tied back, wearing your shirt and a pair of your jeans cut into shorts. 

 

You guys had your first argument when she did that. You said she shouldn’t do that, and she yelled at you for a bit and then burst into tears, saying she didn’t have anything else to properly wear and it felt weird not having her legs uncovered. 

 

Honestly, you’re not sure what another troll would even classify you as. You’re not sure yourself, but you know that it hurts to have to see her like this, constantly. You weren’t meant to even get this far, either of you, but surely it’s easier for you to go through this than it is for her to go through this. You’ve never brought it up, though. Leaving it unspoken makes it easier to get through the days.

 

Sometimes, she leans against you, if you sit together. You let her. It’s not easy for either of you to live like this, but fuck, it’s not death. You refuse to die yet.

 

Sometimes she holds your hand, like a wriggler - lacing the fingers together, squeezing reassuringly. You two never bring it up with each other. You won’t be the first to point out how sad and awkward it is. You won’t listen to how it makes you feel, you’re not going to theorise. Theorising was a luxury that you used to have, when you could know what was going on, when you were part of a different world and didn’t have to wash your clothes by hand. 

 

Everything changed. And you two have changed right along with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SnowWriterType), where you can follow me and find my ko-fi!


	9. (Night 4) Breakfast and Bitching

The next morning for you is a groggy one. Carina is already changed, and beside her, Amphit is smiling like there’s no tomorrow.

 

“I can’t wait for training today! I really felt some improvement yesterday, you know?”

 

“No one spars with you, idiot. Your opponent is a punching bag.” Denebe is sat on his bunk, grinning. “You’re only probably improving because even that piece of garbage is starting to feel bad for you.”

 

“That’s...Well, that’s not true! Carina, you’ll spar with me today, won’t you?” Amphit looks momentarily worried, and you wonder if Denebe is starting to get to him. It’s not as though you really believe in all that class divide as much as you used to, but a seadweller acting like this just...looks bad. Hell, you thought you begged for attention back in the bad old days? Amphit has you beat, fair and square.

 

Carina, of course, ignores him, frowning at you. 

 

“Ampora, get your ass out of bed. It’s 6:15 already. Do you never get up on time?” She doesn’t wait to hear a reply, but just glares at Denebe. “It’s not catnap time either, dipshit. Get off of there and make sure you’re ready. Gorefang already has it out for our cabin without us having to be late.”

 

“She w-won’t care, she’s droolin’ ov-ver that folder she made me put together,” you grumble, as you slide out of bed and stumble in your pajama bottoms to the dinky little bathroom that’s attached to your cabin, grabbing your uniform on the way.

 

“You better hurry, Dumb-pora. You were last up. You know what that means, yeah?” Denebe calls.

 

Yep, you do. It means that Carina’s going to try to stab you if you make them late. 

 

You grumble to yourself, getting changed quickly. You want to blame Captor for this, but really, you know that if you stay up late, you’ll pay for it when you wake up. On the Alecto, everyone has to be up at around 6:00MT (military time, because days don’t feel like days in space) and be ready for breakfast by 6:30. Usually, your body wakes you up at 5:55, so you can get the drop on Carina, but you overslept today.

 

Denebe scratches his nails across the door of the bathroom and your fins pin back against your head in a show of annoyance that only you can see. He’s such a little fucker, that one. You think he plans to annoy you until you throw yourself out of the airlock, frankly - and he’s not far off, this morning. You’d take the void over this suffering if it wasn’t for the fact you’re too stubborn to let this hellhole kill you.

 

Carina hurries your little group out of there the second you’re ready, barely allowing you to grab your glasses. It’s 6:25 when you drag your sorry asses to the mess hall and order your food.

 

Amphit is over to the breakfast bar like a shot, ordering from the kitchen staff with a big smile on his face. You see the bronze behind the counter visibly shudder at the sight of him, and try not to wince. 

 

You have a theory, you see. You think they wanted to hammer home what an embarrassment you are following Fef becoming the Usurpess that they decided to stick you in the same room for as long as you’re alive with the other biggest embarrassment to all seadwellers. Amphit acts like he’s going to try and befriend everyone on this ship, and even the kitchen staff look down on him. Being near him makes you cringe all over. He’s the biggest idiot you’ve ever met, including Makara.

 

He comes back with a pile of pancakes and Denebe snatches one immediately, holding it like it’s toast as he takes ravenous bites out of it.

 

“Gross. It ain’t ev-ven got any syrup…” You make a face, and Denebe pauses to stick out a tongue covered in bits of pancake. 

 

You groan, getting up from the table to go stand in the queue that’s forming to get your own breakfast. Screw them. Screw this. You absolutely hate these clowns that the military is forcing you to share a cabin with. 

 

“Can I take your order, please?” the bronze behind the counter asks, in the most bored monotone you’ve ever heard. You sigh.

 

“Just...you got any coffee? And some bread with grubsauce.” You’re gonna need a lot of coffee today with these assholes around.

 

Once you’re back at the table, drinking the disgusting long-life coffee (it gets this weird film over it if you don’t drink it quickly enough), you think to check your little palmhusk. It’s been beeping for a while now.

 

twinArmegeddons [TA] began trolling  caligulasAquarium [CA]

TA: hey ampora you up yet

TA: iit2 liike a22 o clock why are you even onliine

TA: do you 2eriiou2ly get up thii2 early what the fuck ii2 wrong wiith you 

 

You frown at the screen.

 

CA: you are awware they make me get up this early right

CA: like its not a choice 

CA: i didnt suddenly decide it wwould be fun to fuck ovver my sleep schedule because i wwas fuckin bored

TA: you liive then

CA: unfortunately 

CA: carina has been up my ass evver since i wwoke up 

TA: why

CA: wwe gotta be at the mess hall by a certain time

CA: an the staff here aint fond of us so wwe cant really mess up

CA: not that it matters wwhen fuckin amphit is actin like wwe all just need one more smile to start skippin dowwn a yellow brick road wwith his stupid ass

TA: whos amphiit

CA: the idiot seadwweller 

CA: roommate 

CA: bane of my life

TA: ii thought mii22 2tabby wa2 the bane of your liife

CA: that too

CA: they all suck 

CA: did i not make this clear

TA: you diid

 

“Who’re you talking to?” Denebe tries to snatch the palmhusk from you and you pin your fins back again, baring your teeth.

 

“You try that again, Kliauw, and shit goes south, you hear me?” You lock your palmhusk and put it in your breast pocket. You can sense his eyes trained on it, so you grab his collar.

 

“Shit. Goes. South,” you hiss at him, and he tilts his chin up, refusing to meet your eyes. 

 

“Alright! Geez, you’re testy.” He still doesn’t look at you, and you let go slowly. Carina rolls her eyes, but doesn’t intervene. Amphit, on the other hand, is looking at you with fearful eyes. You want to scream at him that he’s a seadweller, that he shouldn’t be acting like that, that he ought to be your equal and not a cowering mess, but you can only handle so much dumbassery in one morning. 

 

You can feel a few eyes on you as you go back to your coffee. It’s fine. You don’t care about these other assholes, but you’ll be damned if you let Kliauw ruin any of whatever the fuck is going on between you and Captor. Call it mutual despair, or whatever you want, but it’s a damn sight better than any other connection in your life right now.

 

Denebe starts chattering with Amphit, trying to scrounge another pancake off of him. Amphit nearly hands one over, but Carina slaps the fork he’s offering it on down, and tells Denebe to go get his own fucking pancakes if he’s so hungry. The two of them begin bickering, and you try to block it out by concentrating on your terrible, terrible coffee.

 


	10. (Night 4) Stagnation

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]

 

TA: hey what wa2 that earliier

TA: you ju2t went offliine

TA: the fuck

CA: okay 

CA: you realise im still wworkin right

CA: its like 9:30

TA: ii dont know your 2chedule do ii

CA: dont be a pain you knoww i wwork

CA: anywway

CA: denebe tried to take my palmhusk

CA: so i had to put it out of reach of the stealin little bastard

TA: well 2hiit

CA: he sucks so much 

CA: plus hes practically fuckin feral

TA: 2o ii2 GZ

CA: thats different 

CA: makara has an excuse 

CA: denebe is annoyin to be annoyin 

CA: but

CA: im busy right noww captor

TA: what are you doiing today then

CA: uh 

CA: tryin not to bleed much 

CA: carina an me sparred this mornin 

CA: she wwas pissed i didnt get up early enough so she sliced my shoulder a bit 

TA: who won 

CA: uhh

CA: i dont actually knoww because she dreww first blood but i threww her 

CA: it wwasnt vvery by the rules really

TA: 2hiit 

CA: yeah 

TA: you threw her

TA: and 2he 2urviived

CA: it wwas only a little shovve

CA: but she skidded back an knocked into this big olivve guy 

CA: so then they challenged each other because they wwere both pretty pissed about it

CA: im pretty sure throwwin your opponent awway from you forfeits the battle though 

TA: maybe iin flarp

TA: iim pretty 2ure iin real liife iit2 more along the liine2 of tactiic2

CA: tactics my ass

CA: shes still pissed at me for it i can tell

TA: okay but

TA: quiick que2tiion 

TA: ha2 2he ever not been pi22ed at you 

CA: yesterday maybe

TA: 2o that2 one to how many 

CA: i mean i get your point but shes kinda pissed: deluxe edition noww

TA: congrat2

TA: you diidnt even have to pay anythiing for the upgrade

CA: i paid in blood

CA: so actually

TA: poiint but 

TA: how much blood

CA: wwhy are you askin 

CA: creep

TA: oh god not thii2 agaiin 

CA: maybe creep wwill be our alwways

TA: dont you fuckiing 2tart wiith that

TA: ii wiill fiind a way to 2lap you through the iinternet

CA: doubt

TA: rude 

CA: oh like youre actually evven offended

TA: oh 2hut up 

TA: iill me22age you thii2 eveniing then 

CA: as long as kliauww doesnt try to steal my shit again sure

caligulasAquarium [CA] stopped trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

 

You’re surprised to find that you’re actually grinning when you wheel your chair back from the computer. It’s kind of fun to try and wind up Eridan again, after all this time, if you’re being honest. What’s even more surprising though is that Eridan is successfully winding you up right back. 

 

When you were kids, Eridan was the perfect example of someone who couldn’t dish it out or take it. He was pissy, and while he still is, you’ve found that he can now kind of take a joke. Kind of. It’s Eridan - there aren’t any miracles about, after all.

 

So. You click to another window, where your document is sitting, and note down the details you know about his roommates - first names, blood colour, the whole lot. 

 

These roommates. He was sure that they’d fucked up, and you have their first names, so you’re thinking that if you track down exactly how they fucked up, you might get a clue of on what scale Eridan fucked up. It’s a slim chance, but you’re pretty certain it won’t take long. After all, you’re  _ you _ . You’re pretty fucking good with crunching data.

 

A reminder pings up on your screen just as you’re about to get to it. It sits right in the middle, blocking you from working on anything.

 

_ TAKE MED2 _

 

You try to click it away, until you remember that it actually doesn’t click away and your asshole of a past self just designed it to have a useless little ‘x’ in the corner to trick your dumb present self. It’s you. You’re the dumb present self.

 

“Fine!” You stand up and go over to the ablution block. “Fine, I’m doing it, alright?” 

 

You had a breakthrough after you stopped talking to Eridan, with the coding of that thing. It just needed a way to link through all your devices, but what it really needed was a way to also see which device was recently active, so instead of having to run at the same time on every device, it just needed access and installation on every device. It’s stupidly simple.

 

You gulp down the two tablets you’re prescribed and open up your palmhusk to notify the system you’ve take your meds. This part of it is honestly more of a work in progress, but you only spent like two hours last night setting this beta version up and honestly, it’s working pretty well.

 

“I can’t believe you’re not even sorry!” a voice screams from outside. You groan, all your euphoria from the hard work paying off draining away as your goldblood neighbour stomps outside, followed by their pissed and ill-matched kismesis. You’re not made of stone, so you sneak up to the balcony to watch.

 

“What, I should ask your permission or something for going off-planet? Newsflash, Laluna, we should have been off-planet the second we came of age!”

 

“You didn’t even tell me you were thinking of it. Fine, go. It’s not like you care about keeping in spades anyway, Solaar!” They shove the tealblood. “You’d rather be scratching His Tyranny’s asshole for him!”

 

To be honest, you’ve never thought they were good in spades, but that one was actually pretty good. The teal scowls.

 

“Oh, so because I’m moving forward and you’re not, you’re jealous? You’re stagnating here. At least I’m doing something.”

 

“You had your chance to do something, but they turned you down. You really think you’d be any good out there? Prove it! Fuck off and prove it, but don’t expect me to come running after you!” The goldblood is crackling a little with upset static, and you hear a low chuckle coming from beside you. The olive is standing on her balcony, crossbow at the ready, grinning like she’s the purrbeast that got the cream.

 

“I’m going, Laluna. Unless you want to rot here, I suggest you look at your options.” His voice then drops down lower than you can here, and there’s a challenge between them. The goldblood lowers their head and charges, only to be caught by the shoulders and stopped in a grip they can’t break no matter how hard they try.

 

Well, jeez. You’re almost getting uncomfortable with how openly pitch they’re being now. You cough, and turn your head.

 

“Not a voyeur?” the oliveblood enquires, sweetly, as you turn to head back inside.

 

“Are you?” you ask, shortly, and close the doors behind you. You can hear her laughing, and your ears burn as you sling yourself back into the computer chair.

 

Off-planet. Again, that seems to crop up a lot. Aradia has gone, your pale pal off exploring ruins on one of the former colonies. She gets wifi about once a week when she returns to the hivestem at the centre of the little place, but aside from that you barely hear from her. Signal’s not great, down in the ruins, and if you were there maybe you could do something about that.

 

But you’re not. You’re here, on Alternia, with everyone around you slowly leaving. The Empire is vast, and there’s apparently something for everyone, although you’ve not bought into that yet. But it’s rung true for most of your friends, and for the ones it didn’t, that didn’t matter. Feferi vanished and became Public Enemy No. 1. Tavros...well, nobody every found out what happened with Tavros, but you know that Vriska left soon after and Aradia wouldn’t tell you what she knew. Karkat had been long gone by the time any of you started leaving.

 

Where would you go, though? Some little colony where the neighbours sucked just as much? No, not yet. Something keeps telling you,  _ not yet _ . You’re not sure what that is, but you sure as hell don’t want to ignore your gut feeling. 

 

You sigh, and go back to your computer, starting to search through the tangled web for any mention of Eridan’s roommates. Honestly, their names aren’t unique, really. There’s quite a few Carina mentions, for a start, so you decide to expand the search to ‘Carina Stab’ to see if it yields anything.

 

An article on a blog about a year ago catches your eye.

 

“Teal Legislacerator In Training in Knifing Scandal!” it declares, in what you’d say was a flashy font. You pull it up, and give it a quick read through.

 

It’s from one of these ‘news blogs’ that’s basically a gossip sheet for seadwellers. It’s got all these advertisements for jewellers and expensive items along the margins, but you try to concentrate on the article. It's pretty poorly written, but you manage to stagger through it.

 

A seadweller client of the legislacerators had been knifed for apparently no reason by a teal, who was representing him. When asked why, the teal claimed that the whole trial (between two seadwellers) had been set up. The blog then states that any teal should know you don’t knife the clientele, and gleefully reported that the teal in question, one Carina Vassel, would be up for trial herself soon enough.

 

You’re fool enough to read the comments, and you feel almost sick at them. A couple try to defend Carina, saying that seadwellers act as though they can just do as they please, but a lot of them are self-congratulatory seadwellers and ceruleans laughing at what’s happened or expressing concern for the guy who got stabbed. There’s even a page where you can donate money for his ‘emotional trauma’, and after you find that, you immediately click off the page. It’s not a scandal. You don’t know why, but you get the feeling Carina wasn’t entirely in the wrong. However, it can’t be denied that a teal stabbing a violet is fucking up on a grand scale. If this is the scale that’s measuring Eridan, you don’t at all fucking buy his spiel about him getting slung into the military for being Fef’s moirail when you guys were six sweeps old. It doesn’t fit.

  
  
  
  



	11. (Night 4) A Conversation About Lusii

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]

CA: oh hey

TA: hey your2elf

TA: can ii a2k 2omethiing

CA: sure

TA: doe2 cariina liike

TA: hate 2eadweller2

TA: or ju2t you

CA: its not like there are a bunch of us on the ship

CA: honestly i dont knoww

CA: amphit is just easy to hate

CA: a lotta our creww call him armpit behind his back

TA: okay you have to admiit that2 funny

CA: it is but thats not my point

CA: if he found out hed be hurt and hed also do jack shit

TA: 2o what

CA: hes a vviolet

CA: wwe dont act like that

CA: no one evven spars with him

TA: ii think he 2uck2 but ii wouldnt hate hiim

TA: doe2 cariina act toward2 the two of you the 2ame

CA: i think wwe all wwant to hit him but theres something about him that means you cant

CA: so no

CA: she treats me like i havve a braincell

CA: and she stabs us both but wwith him its generally because hes there

TA: 2hiit

CA: it feels wweird though

CA: like i knoww they say vviolets wwatch out for each other but really the only wway id evver do that is stop someone from chuckin him out the airlock or actually killin him

CA: i got no clue howw hes made it this far

TA: me neiither

TA: fuck

TA: and he2 a viiolet

CA: earfins an all

CA: dunno wwhat he did to fuck up but honestly it coulda been him just annoyin someone by breathin

TA: ii kiind of get what you mean

TA: even heariing about that make2 me feel 2ad for hiim

CA: hes still got a lusus toy

CA: you knoww like you havve wwhen youre a grub

CA: i mean

TA: doe2nt everyone

CA: yeah but

TA: waiit you 2tiill have your2

TA: liike

TA: wiith you

CA: its pretty much hidden so you can fuck right off

CA: but he openly sleeps wwith his

CA: its an octopod or somefin

CA: this one time right wwe wwere all here for dowwntime an denebe snatches it

CA: full on steals it off him

CA: i wwoulda grabbed him or done somethin but amphit just bawwls like a lost wwriggler

CA: goes

CA: givve it baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

TA: well

TA: fuck

CA: i dunno it just

CA: it feels wwrong to pick on him sometimes so mostly i just leavve him be

TA: i mean octopod2 are awe2ome at protectiing grub2 maybe that2 why he 2urviived

CA: it still dont make sense

CA: octopods pick real bastards

CA: a real bastard he is not

TA: maybe iit felt bad for hiim too

CA: cod knowws

CA: sorry that convversation wwent on a real fuckin tangent right

TA: i a2ked

CA: still

CA: oh by the wway

CA: do you still havve your lusus

TA: no

TA: iit2

TA: well ba2iically he got a new grub

CA: im sorry

TA: he wa2 never 2mart and iim an adult now

TA: 2o he marched off to get a grub becau2e he diidnt have one anymore

CA: captor

CA: thats shit

CA: seriously im sorry

TA: what happened to your2

CA: i dont wwant to talk about it thanks

TA: that2 faiir

CA: a couple of the higher ups got to bring their lusii

CA: wwe sometimes get asked to feed gorefangs

CA: wwell the others do its kind of if you do a good job

TA: you dont get fed two iit right

CA: no

CA: its a rewward dumbass

CA: its not that cute but its in the room next to hers and its this big scarab

CA: none of my cabin havve evven seen it but olympe has and she says its super nice

TA: thank fuck

CA: gorefang might be a cerulean bitch but nah her lusus is pretty low maintenance

CA: it eats meat but not trolls

TA: that2 atypiical

CA: yeah maybe thats wwhy shes stuck on the alecto chasin after her pitch crush by gettin me to access the files

CA: shes not

CA: a ragin bitch

CA: just a run a the mill bitch

TA: must suck

CA: wwell at least she aint goin through wwhat vvris did

CA: not that she aint a ragin bitch but i knoww she never got on wwith her lusus

TA: hard to get on wiith 2omethiing that miight be lookiing at you liike youre food ii gue22

CA: that wwas kinda howw she put it

CA: shes still a bitch though

TA: absolutely

TA: 2he nearly got AA dead one tiime remember

CA: yeesh yes i do

CA: she wwas pissed for a long time after that

CA: said she failed

TA: god 2he2 a ma22ive bitch

CA: you dont havve to tell me

TA: gue22 not

TA: how2 downtime goiing by the way

CA: carina stomped out because apparently wwe all suck and shes off to hang wwith her teal friends

CA: denebe is buggin amphit wwho aint doin anythin about it as per fuckin usual

CA: an im sat here messagin you

TA: buggiing hiim how

CA: hangin off his bunk upside down an askin amphit stupid questions wwhich a course the idiot aint able to answer

CA: denebe aint evven listenin though

CA: just askin

TA: yiike2

CA: you dont say

CA: but wwhile theyre buggin each other they aint buggin me

TA: that2 a valiid poiint

CA: you can kinda see wwhy carina fucked off

TA: pff yeah

CA: wwhy did you ask about them anywway

TA: ju2t iintere2ted

CA: wwhy

TA: ii mean ii gue22 iif we keep me22agiing liike thii2 ii want two have 2ome iidea of what youre talkiing about iif you were biitchiing about them

CA: huh

CA: okay

CA: i betta get some sleep actually carinas still pissed at me an i dont wwant to lose focus and get stabbed tomorrow

CA: see ya

caligulasAquarium [CA] stopped trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

 


	12. (Night 4) A Conversation About Cults

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinarmageddons [TA]  
AA: s0llux!  
AA: you’ll never guess what i f0und t0day  
TA: what  
AA: a cavern with the most amazing art  
AA: theres some super weird stuff d0wn here  
AA: like the cavern has even m0re stuff than i th0ught  
TA: that2 pretty cool  
AA: y0u d0nt kn0w the half 0f it  
AA: its like this is a secret temple 0r s0mething and the symb0lism is really weird  
AA: like theres this h00ded figure and a green 0ne h0lding a b00k  
AA: its like a cult temple but the faces have all crumbled 0ver time s0 it was super hard t0 make 0ut what was happening but ill be back there t0m0rr0w t0 see what i can find  
TA: that2 2o weiird  
TA: but 2tay 2afe you mad explorer lady  
AA: y0u get s0 mushy s0metimes!  
AA: ill be fine  
TA: glad two hear iit  
AA: s0ppy  
TA: no u  
AA: 0h fuck  
TA: got em  
AA: s0 h0ws it g0ing back h0me   
TA: well more and more people are leaviing for 2pace  
TA: gue22 the older you get the harder iit ii2 two 2tay here  
AA: i mean it must feel like y0ure surr0unded by a sea 0f t0ddlers  
TA: that2 ju2t what iit feel2 liike two bee around other people  
AA: they pr0bably feel the same way ab0ut y0u t0 bee honest  
TA: hey   
AA: what  
TA: you 2aiid bee  
AA: nuh uh   
TA: yeah huh   
AA: n0pe  
AA: d0esnt s0und like me  
AA: what have y0u been up tw0 while ive been g0ne th0ugh  
TA: 2top iit  
TA: well actually ii kiind of have 2ome weiird new2  
AA: 0h?  
TA: well ii wa2 bored a2 2hiit the other day 2o ii me22aged eriidan2 account   
TA: and he repliied  
AA: HES ALIVE?  
TA: he ii2   
TA: ii thiink he intend2 to 2tay that way  
TA: he2 iin the miiliitary on a 2hiip called the alecto  
AA: h0ly fucking shitballs  
TA: yup  
AA: i definitely th0ught he was dead  
AA: n0t that i saw his gh0st but after everything that happened and him n0t being 0nline  
AA: well  
AA: i guess we all assumed he was  
TA: he2 aliive and kiickiing  
TA: and iim pretty 2ure he2 lying two me about 2omethiing  
AA: what makes y0u say that  
TA: well   
TA: he 2aiid he wa2 put iin the miiliitary for beiing her former moiiraiil  
TA: but that relatiion2hiip broke down   
TA: you know that  
AA: b0y d0 i ever  
AA: still he was always kind 0f clingy even bef0re it went s0ur  
AA: maybe they assumed hed help her n0 matter what  
TA: maybe   
TA: but 2omethiing2 not riight ii ju2t know iit  
AA: still  
AA: hes alive  
AA: thats h0nestly sh0cking because that guy has n0 survival instinct   
TA: youre ju2t saying that becau2e of the VK thiing  
AA: isnt that reas0n en0ugh t0 think that  
AA: bluh  
TA: bluh iindeed  
TA: ii heard 2he moved off planet age2 back   
AA: im glad   
AA: i d0nt trust her near y0u t0 be h0nest  
TA: i kn0w  
TA: but 2he2 not really a part of our liive2 now  
AA: shes a part 0f my past  
AA: and 0ne i d0nt like   
AA: if the v0ices hadnt stepped in me and my lusus w0uld have been dead   
AA: and y0u w0uld have been the cause   
TA: iim glad thiing2 diidnt turn out liike that  
AA: me tw0  
TA: goddammiit  
AA: 0u0  
TA: no that ju2t look2 dumb  
AA: n0pe   
AA: 0u0  
AA: can i tell y0u m0re ab0ut h0w i f0und the cave because 0therwise im just g0nna feel m0pey ab0ut all that crap  
TA: 2ure  
AA: s0 theres the big main set 0f ruins which i like t0 expl0re and 0f c0urse the centre thats in the middle   
AA: ive been f0ll0wing these weird tunnels recently that lead d0wn bel0w the catac0mbs 0f the ruins and int0 these caves   
AA: and its super creepy d0wn there  
AA: i even ran acr0ss s0me weird lusii tracks but i marked where they were and stayed away fr0m that area because they l00k big  
TA: how biig  
AA: kinda upright and angry and big  
AA: anyway i n0ticed these weird markings 0n the wall  
AA: these little arr0ws  
AA: they l00ked alm0st like game cheat c0des s0 i j0tted them d0wn and then i realised they werent that at all  
AA: they were directi0ns!  
AA: because there was a turning up ahead t0 the left and the first arr0w was a left 0ne   
AA: s0 i f0ll0wed them and it was s0 weird  
AA: the caves became tunnels the further i went in, and as i got cl0ser they became deeper and deeper with wall brackets everywhere   
AA: it was an 0ld temple and y0u c0uld tell it wasnt anything like a temple y0ud see ab0ve gr0und   
AA: and thats when these paintings started t0 appear everywhere  
AA: theyve had s0me wear and tear but theres this 0livebl00d figure in a l0t 0f them and shes always h0lding like this big b00k   
AA: i d0nt kn0w what this place is but its fascinating   
TA: iit2 2oundiing culty  
AA: i have t0 return and find 0ut m0re   
AA: i just have t0   
TA: well get 2ome re2t fiir2t okay  
AA: ha   
AA: i guess it is pretty late  
AA: 0kay ill message y0u next time i have wifi  
AA: let me kn0w what happens with eridan th0ugh   
TA: okay  
AA: 0u0  
AA: pale f0r y0u  
apocalypseArisen [AA] stopped trolling twinArmageddons [TA]


	13. (Night 5) Of Airlocks and Accidents

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]  
CA: this mornin is a fuckin nightmare  
CA: i should be wworkin but NO  
TA: what happened  
CA: wwell turns out yesterday denebe thought it wwould be funny to persuade amphit he needed to provve hes doin better   
CA: by challengin some fucker  
CA: so amphit did that this mornin  
CA: as im also a vviolet they told me to look after him and catch up on my wwork later so not only havve i gotta tend to the crybaby but i get a bigger wworkload for the privvilege  
TA: 2hiit   
TA: ii2 he okay  
CA: no   
CA: he aint  
CA: hes got a giant bruise wway too near his gills from wwhere the guy he challenged stomped on him   
CA: it wwas fuckin brutal an hes still snivvellin  
TA: how do you know iit wa2 denebe  
CA: because the little wwhinin grub told me   
CA: told me that denebe had told him it wwould wwork out ok  
CA: howw does a vviolet havve this feww braincells  
CA: sol wwould it actually be kinder to chuck him out the airlock noww  
TA: woah hey  
TA: hey   
TA: ampora calm iit  
TA: do NOT throw hiim out of the aiirlock  
CA: hed survvivve  
TA: that2 bull2hiit and you know iit  
CA: so wwhat  
CA: he challenged a guy twwice his wweight an expected it to go swwimmingly  
TA: cmon ampora  
TA: he2 dumb and you know iit  
CA: yeah   
CA: thats wwhy itd be kinder than lettin him die like this  
TA: no   
TA: maybe iif you werent pii22ed at hiim but you are   
CA: fuck yeah im pissed  
CA: he listened to denebe again   
CA: i keep tellin this douchebag not to because denebe likes to mess wwith him  
CA: ironically he just dont listen to me  
TA: ii dont blame him   
TA: you got pii22ed at hiim and iimmediiately 2tarted thiinkiing about throwiing hiim out of the aiirlock  
CA: he dont knoww that  
TA: do you 2tiill do that thiing where you mutter to your2elf when youre pii22ed becau2e iif you do iim pretty 2ure he doe2  
CA: shut up captor  
CA: no one asked you  
TA: oh my god ampora  
TA: liiterally you diid   
TA: you a2ked me  
TA: iit2 a thiing you diid  
CA: wwell i still havve to deal wwith this idiot  
CA: an my wworkload is goin to be double   
CA: an im not allowwed to do anythin but wwatch him all day   
TA: then 2hut up and grub2it oh my god  
TA: 2top beiing 2uch a pi22baby about it  
CA: do i look like a fuckin jade to you   
TA: ii cant 2ee you 2o  
CA: oh god im a purple jade  
CA: oh god  
CA: is this wwhat a mental breakdowwn feels like  
CA: i am   
CA: i evven tucked him up wwith his stupid lusus toy  
TA: ED that2 fuckiing adorable  
CA: i wwill rip your throat out so fast you wwont be able to ask me to stop  
TA: good luck doiing that from 2pace  
CA: FUCK   
CA: raincheck then   
TA: you cant raiincheck a threat  
CA: can too and fuck you   
caligulasAquarium [CA] stopped trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

Amphit snivels behind you, cuddling his stupid octopod toy like it’s going to make things better. You sigh as he flinches as you sit down on the end of the bed.

“Relax. I’m not gonna throw-w you outta the airlock.” 

“You said you were,” he says, accusingly. You try not to snap at him.

“You’re v-very annoyin’. That’s w-why. I w-wouldn’t actually do it.” You don’t want to say it, but the truth drags itself out. Maybe because you’re too annoyed with Sollux now to actually focus on your annoyance with Amphit.

“I thought…I thought it would be fine,” he bleats, and you try your hardest not to snap, but you want to very badly  
.  
“Amphit. You’re a v-violet. But for some reasonin’ w-way beyond my mere mortal comprehension, you happen to be at the bottom a’ the food chain here. You can’t fight. You act like ev-veryone is your best fuckin’ friend, and still can’t see w-why no one likes you. A v-violet shouldn’t ev-ven be on this ship. I’m only here because a’ v-very special circumstances, got it?” You look at him. “So either you toughen up, or this is goin’ to keep happenin’. An’ I’m not goin’ to sav-ve you.”

He’s sniffling now, and you get the feeling it’s going to be a long day already. You sigh again.

“Listen, Amphit. You’re in this cabin. W-we ain’t anythin’ good here, w-which means you ain’t either. But it w-wouldn’t do you any harm to act like…like a v-violet. You know-w? Ev-ven if that’s not you. God, I can’t believ-ve no one has had this talk w-with you yet.”

“What talk?” he asks, confused. 

“The caste system talk. Didn’t you ev-ver go on forums as kids? Nev-ver look up your ancestor, ev-ven?” You feel like you’re kicking a baby barkbeast as you carry on. “People like us get through if other people think w-we believ-ve in it. Hell, I used to believ-ve it. Used to think I w-was so much better than ev-veryone else, because I w-was hatched into it. Thought I w-was special just for bein’ hatched.”

He looks at you, and he’s just confused. You sigh.

“In layman’s terms, that means you act better than ev-veryone. Like you w-were hatched with a silv-ver spoon in your mouth and a silv-ver stick up your ass. Like ev-ven if you can’t beat ‘em in a fight, you’re just…abov-ve ev-veryone else around you.”

“That…No…” He protests weakly. You lean over and gently jab his ribs. He yelps and flinches away.

“That’s your alternativ-ve. Be yourself, by all means, but this is the alternativ-ve. Act like the w-worst, an’ you might just make it.”

It’s so much easier, you suppose, to actually realise you’re no better than anyone else after a lifetime of believing it. But somehow, he’s known from the start, and tried to act against a system built by people who think just like you used to. The only weird thing is that it hasn’t yet eaten him alive, for all it should have done. He’s in tears and actually hiccupping as he sobs like his little pusher is breaking, and you get a weird urge to wrap your arms around him and tell him it’s okay.

But you don’t. Because it isn’t okay, and also you don’t want Amphit clinging to you like a grub. Instead, you sit back awkwardly and try not to feel like the worst person in the world. You know, logically, that you’re just trying to help him survive. In a way, you are being kind. But you know better than anyone the system is broken, and what are you trying to do, get this guy to live by it?

But the point is, if he listens to you, he’ll live.

And that’s all anyone in the Empire can dream of.


	14. (Night 5) Repercussions

talentedCharlatan [TC] began trolling consistentlyCaustic [CC]  
TC: carina  
TC: carina you’re ignoring me  
TC: why are you ignoring me carina  
CC: fuck off  
TC: is this about the thing  
CC: yyes it’s about the thing now fuck off  
TC: why   
TC: it was hi7arious  
TC: did you see the way he 7ooked when they carried him out  
CC: it was fucking unnecessaryy is what it was  
CC: yyou’re a bullyy  
CC: yyou know what, this is how ceruleans act because theyy also think what theyy’re doing is funnyy   
CC: is that how yyou want people to see yyou  
TC: geez   
TC: what shoved a stick up your ass a77 of a sudden  
TC: you regu7ar7y stab the guy  
CC: yyeah but i never do what yyou did  
CC: tricking him into getting beaten up was a reallyy cruel thing, denebe  
CC: yyou know it was as well  
TC: ugh   
TC: why can’t you see it was fucking funny?  
CC: because yyou’re the onlyy one who thinks it was  
CC: the rest of us know he’s going to be cryying for dayys and it’s going to be annoyying as all hell while he heals up  
CC: remember that time he got a splinter  
CC: this is worse than a splinter and we can’t even tell him not to be a babyy  
TC: sure we can  
CC: are yyou like  
CC: allergic to admitting yyou’re at fault or something  
TC: i’m not at fau7t  
TC: i to7d him to do it but he 7istened to me  
TC: so rea77y that’s on him  
CC: that’s not an excuse and yyou know it  
CC: i’m getting back to work  
CC: do me a favour and at least tryy to see yyou’re in the wrong here  
CC: also i’m not sharing myy earplugs if he whimpers when yyou’re tryying to sleep  
TC: carina c’mon  
TC: don’t be 7ike that!  
CC: UGH  
CC: leave me alone  
consistentlyCaustic [CC] stopped trolling talentedCharlatan [TC]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Denebe is a stinky bastard creacher.
> 
> This is the first 'no-canon-characters' chapter. It's a bit short, but Carina's pretty pissed.


	15. (Night 5) Concerns

graecoAllure [GA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]  
GA: eridan!  
CA: hey olympe  
GA: how’s it going with amphit?  
CA: wwell i didnt expect anyone to be askin that  
CA: pretty sure the rest a those fuckers dont care  
GA: i mean carina looked pretty pissed, to be fair!  
CA: aint she alwways though  
CA: like constantly   
GA: no?  
CA: guess wwe just get the special treatment then  
GA: well, you two are seadwellers and she doesn’t like seadwellers  
CA: wwhy  
GA: i don’t know  
CA: ok sure   
CA: you dont knoww  
CA: i mean obvviously you do but im not gonna push you   
GA: so   
GA: how is it going?  
CA: wwell hes crying because i told him he shouldnt be so fuckin nice all the time  
CA: i knoww he cant help it but   
CA: hell get himself killed olympe  
GA: you shouldn’t tell him not to be himself!  
CA: do you wwant him dead olympe  
CA: him bein himself is wwhat got him into this mess  
GA: no  
GA: denebe got him into that mess  
CA: dont be pedantic  
CA: you knoww wwhat i mean  
GA: it was denebe’s fault for telling him to do it  
CA: yeah but he listened to denebe  
CA: you cant deny that his friendliness is also vvery dumb  
GA: i thought seadwellers looked out for each other!  
CA: i wwas sparrin at the time  
CA: an besides he challenged the guy  
CA: im not gonna step in if he started it  
GA: other seadwellers would!  
CA: olympe  
CA: other seadwwellers wwould havve throwwn him out a the airlock upon meetin him  
CA: and frankly youre both lucky i didnt decide to do just that today  
CA: i am wwatchin out for him but im not gonna baby him if he cant keep himself alivve  
GA: okay fine  
GA: and just so you know  
GA: carina’s not speaking to denebe  
CA: i aint either  
CA: little shits caused us enough trouble today  
GA: yeah okay  
GA: that’s fair  
CA: okay wwell you got a bee in your bonnet about somethin  
CA: i aint got time to prise it outta you   
CA: kinda busy lookin after an idiot here so let me knoww if you wwant to tell me wwhats bitin ya  
caligulasAquarium [CA] stopped trolling graecoAllure [GA]


	16. (Night 5) The Past has Passed

You frown at your computer. You were still waiting to hear back from Terezi over this whole mess, but your mind won’t stop going over that conversation that you’d had with Eridan.

So, Amphit had challenged someone who had wiped the floor with him. But why the hell did Eridan seem so personally offended? It was like he was angry in the same way Karkat used to—

The thought slams into you like a freight train. Karkat.

You had put Karkat to the very back of your mind for a while now, trying not to think of what happened to your friend. Because, in your own stupid way, you and Karkat had been friends, laughing at each other, one-upping each other, and trying to always be better than the other. You’d just been kids, though, and didn’t quite know how to say that you _were_ friends. It had been insults, and laughing at each other, and sending each other viruses. But the weird little friendship had been a constant to you – you’d never even had the imagination to think of a world where you couldn’t message Karkat and bug him, or where Karkat wouldn’t come to you with a problem he wouldn’t admit he couldn’t fix. One that you could, of course, which always pissed him off.

And then Karkat had vanished just as everyone had gotten evaluated. He’d sent a weirdly long message, longer than any of his rants, saying how he was happy to have had you as a friend. He’d admitted something shocking, too.

He’d told you he was a mutant, although not specifically how. He’d said he was going to get culled, and he didn’t want to just _not_ tell you if he was going to die either way. It wouldn’t make him any more alive. And he said there were hundreds who would die in the culling anyway, so what made him any different? But he was happy for the time he’d had, he said, which sounded like bullshit coming from Karkat Vantas. Karkat Vantas – the Karkat Vantas you had known, anyway – wouldn’t have given up like that. He wouldn’t just…not exist.

You’d have expected an outcry if a mutant was found, to be honest, and obsessively stalked the news for a perigee after evaluation and the culling that came with it. But there’d been no mention of anything, no mention of mutants whatsoever, and you’d given up, mourning for your friend for another perigee. Karkat was gone, one way or another, and you had no power to change that. Of course, you’d listened for Karkat when culling took place, but the voices in your head were like a flood of screams as the culling approached and many didn’t make it. Picking Karkat’s voice out from that was too much, and you felt like you’d failed your friend all over again. Listening for that long had left you with a headache for days, too. So many, many people hadn’t made it.

You’d asked Aradia to reach his ghost, but she’d refused. She said it wouldn’t be fair on Karkat, just to be pulled up and asked all these angry things that you kept asking yourself. Surely, after a lifetime of living on Alternia, Karkat deserved some peace. You’d argued over that, and eventually, you had come around, because when it came to Aradia, you usually saw sense. But your coming around meant you had to mentally put your feelings in a box, and tried to bury it.

And yet here you were, comparing Eridan Ampora (the guy who you two used to mock behind his back together) to Karkat. Karkat, who had _died_. Did that make you a bad person? Did your fledgeling friendship with Eridan actually _mean_ anything, or was you just trying to make friends because you were bored? And, hell, should you even be trying to make friends with anyone from that group you had both known? You scowl and push yourself away from the desk, standing up and stomping out onto the balcony.

Fuck. Did this mean Eridan had actually even changed, at all? If he was talking about throwing a helpless guy out of an airlock just for not being a bastard like every other violet in the Empire? Or was he just stamping down on all of the stuff that had made him the unlikeable dick that he was? You remembered how it had been back in the day, when Eridan and Vriska had been in that weird relationship. Eridan had said it was a mess, himself, but was he just _saying_ that so you’d agree with him?

Eridan had been that guy, the clingy one who wanted to quadrant for the sake of not being pathetically alone. He’d been the awkward and violent one. Was it at all possible he’d really changed, or was this whole thing just another ploy? Because Eridan, oh, back in the day, Eridan had been full of tricks. He’d do anything, including trying to keep Vriska by getting Kanaya to be in clubs with them, which Kanaya had flatly refused. He’d gone whining to Feferi about it, who had then vented to you about how draining being pale with Eridan was.

It wasn’t like you didn’t want to believe he’d changed. You really did. But were you supposed to believe someone’s changed if they snap back the instance something bad happens?

Fuck.

But then, the old Eridan would have been whining, right? You couldn’t deny that Eridan was actually kind of okay to talk to these days. The old Eridan couldn’t help being himself even in the middle of one of his ploys, but Eridan seemed just genuinely frustrated by Amphit. Most of the time, he hadn’t even been that bad when you guys were talking, just worn out. If only you could have talked this through with Aradia, she would have been able to help you make sense of this whole mess you’d gotten yourself into, but Aradia was busy, and, of course, off-planet.

You missed her. You missed being able to sit with her, to talk with her about everything that was bothering you, about everything that was bothering her. You liked being able to just sit together and make sense of the world, making a pile on the floor of all the spare wires and anything that might even be slightly comfortable. Seeing her roll her eyes, and explain things to you in a way that was so simple but you hadn’t thought of, feeling her squeeze your hand as she explained something to you. Seeing her throw her hands up in frustration at something, seeing her smile.

You missed being able to see her, right in front of you. You wanted to see her again. But she never had signal, and any post you sent would take too long to get to her, given the distance between you two.

“Neighbour!” someone said, delighted, and you look over to see the oliveblood next door, wrapped in a fluffy robe.

“No crossbow today?” you ask, raising an eyebrow. She smirks.

“No annoying people today, that’s why. Well, anyhow, you look like someone pissed in your grubflakes. What’s eating you?” She leans on her own balcony.

“My moirail’s off-planet and I miss her,” you say, your own honesty surprising you. She makes a strange face.

“Oh. I mean, I get that.” She points down to where you usually see the two annoying shits arguing. “They annoy me a bit more than they should. My kismesis is off planet, and I feel like without him, I’m just…getting worse and worse. Like I’m not trying to be better without him, because it doesn’t matter if there’s no one around to see it.”

You look down at the empty ground and feel kind of sympathetic. Seeing those two must really piss her off, you guess.

“Why are you still here, then?” you ask. She huffs through her nose.

“I don’t know where else to go. I mean, I’m a good sniper, and I could be really useful, but I don’t know what to make of myself now. I just wanted to survive to be this old. I didn’t really have a goal.” She sighs. “Meanwhile, he’s off being the best he can be in the navy.”

Oh.

You don’t quite know what to say right now, but you want to tell her that sucks. But you don’t know how to say it. This is the most that the two of you have ever really talked at all, to be quite honest. She seems to want to say something as well, but instead, she starts to turn away.

“Sollux Captor,” you say, and she shrugs.

“Elliar Rhyder. Nice to meet you properly, I guess.” She waves as she heads back inside her own apartment.

You stay where you are, looking out over the view. You’re not really seeing it though – you’re looking back on a time when everything wasn’t yet broken. When you didn’t know about Karkat, when you could still just spend time with Aradia whenever you wanted. When you knew how to feel about someone.

 


	17. (Night 5) Dying Kills People

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]  
CA: so  
CA: i told amphit to wwise up  
CA: hes been cryin on an off since an i feel like an asshole but hes gonna die if he doesnt toughen up  
TA: je2u2  
CA: yeah  
TA: and you care?  
CA: wwell i aint a fuckin monster sol i dont actually wwant him dead dead  
CA: but hell wwhat am i gonna do  
CA: they already wwatch me like a fuckin hawwk an if i start stickin up for someone who clearly shoulda died already wwhen im supposed to uphold the caste system theyll probably be throwwin us both outta the airlock  
TA: huh  
CA: not that i dont uphold our glorious empire  
CA: a course  
TA: of cour2e dont we all  
CA: exactly  
CA: hes lookin at me like i killed a barkbeast in front a him  
CA: captor  
CA: howw do i solvve this  
TA: the fuck  
TA: how 2hould ii know  
CA: i thought you wwere supposed to be the smart one  
TA: iim a 2marta22 that dont mean ii can an2wer thii2 one  
CA: shit  
CA: wwell there goes all hope  
TA: how are the other2 takiing thii2  
TA: have they come back yet  
CA: i got a message sayin that carina aint comin back until she has to  
CA: wwhich aint surprisin  
CA: denebe has come back but surprisingly amphit is kinda ignorin him  
CA: although i think its more because a wwhat i said than him actually not wwantin to talk to that little fucker  
TA: what the fuck  
TA: was the whole gettiing hiim beaten up 2omehow not bad enough for hiim  
CA: wwell denebe is sulkin noww as wwell  
CA: so noww its evven more awwkwward than it wwas before in here  
CA: captor wwhy does this shit alwways happen to me  
TA: how iin the fuck 2hould ii know  
TA: ii2nt 2tabby giirl overjoyed  
CA: olympe said that carina is pissed wwith denebe  
CA: but then she also said that carina aint constantly pissy so i aint too clear on if i should trust olympes judgement on this one  
TA: maybe 2he ju2t doe2nt liike 2eadweller2  
CA: captor  
CA: do you knoww some shit i dont because thats almost wword for wword wwhat olympe said  
TA: how would ii know what 2hiit goe2 on wiith your 2hiip  
CA: be straight wwith me  
CA: do you knoww somethin i dont  
TA: yeah  
TA: ii do  
CA: so im guessin you aint gonna tell me wwhat that is  
TA: no iim not gonna do that  
TA: becau2e iit would be a diick move  
TA: 2he ju2t kiind of ha2 a hii2tory  
CA: wwell  
CA: as much as id like to press you for info i dont exactly wwant to find out somethin that wwould make carina hate me evven more for knowwin it  
CA: but im goin to ask her wwhy she hates seadwwellers  
CA: i aint gonna make you tell me wwhy she does though  
TA: liike you could make me  
CA: yeah yeah im still gonna rip out your throat  
TA: over the iinternet?  
TA: good fuckiing luck  
CA: you say good luck but im settin myself a realistic goal  
CA: an it wwould make me feel better too  
TA: ii am not gettiing my throat riipped out ju2t to make you feel better ampora  
CA: wwell thats just selfish  
TA: hell yeah iit ii2  
TA: are you 2ure that 2hell want you to a2k her 2hiit though  
TA: and arent you 2uppo2ed two be grub2iittiing armpiit  
CA: she wwont wwant me askin but hey she dont wwant me breathin either so frankly its not like its im losin some fantastic friendship  
CA: shes not exactly my best friend remember  
TA: yeah but 2he miight actually 2tab you properly thii2 tiime  
CA: wwell she can try  
TA: there2 no que2tiion of tryiing iif 2he managed it before  
TA: 2he2 goiing to 2tab you iidiiot  
CA: id look cool wwith a scar  
TA: you would be dead  
CA: shut the fuck up no i wwouldnt  
CA: anywway i better go amphit needs checkin on because hes startin to look like he wwants to talk to denebe  
CA: i gotta make sure that dont happen  
TA: have fun gettiing 2tabbed moron  
twinArmageddons [TA] stopped trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]


	18. (Night 5) It's a Bad Idea

Saying you’d ask Carina about her weird anti-seadweller thing was easier than gearing up to do it.

You, on the whole, tend to have a lot more bravado when talking to Captor than you do in any other situation. Maybe that’s a bit stupid, but right now, you’re trying to think how to word it. Carina ain’t even in the room right now, and you’re getting sweatier than Zahhak in a crowd of rustbloods thinking about how you’re going to bring this up.

So instead, you put it to the back of your mind and turn your attention to Amphit. He keeps looking at Denebe like he wants to say something, but you make sure he catches your eye, and shake your head. The last thing you need is _that_ moron talking to the little shit who caused this mess. There must be something fundamentally wrong with the little olive bastard, you think, seething, except you know that everyone else would do the same to Amphit, given the chance. Mind you, Amphit himself has terminal stupidity, and just the sight of him is starting to give you a headache.

You hate times like this, though. You hate any time where you have time to think, to worry, to wonder about everything. Your brain loves to take any spare time it gets to go back over everything you’ve ever done and pick over the major mistakes. At the moment, it’s taking a look at your younger self and sneering at the genocidal little maniac who enjoyed killing lusii and thought the empire was worth upholding.

Of course you thought that. You were hatched into a position where you benefitted from the glorious fuck up that is your culture’s empire. You stood to gain everything – almost everything, anyway – and you were proud of the monstrosity that fucked over so many other people. You didn’t care if you became the death sentence for others, because they weren’t you. And you were never stupid enough to get killed yourself. You saw people as morons, but you were still so desperate for their attention, which you believed that you deserved, back then.

You look back on that idiot kid now and you could weep. You would give anything to still believe in the empire, you really would. Almost anything. Your own fins, even your gills, just to be able to look around and not feel a crushing sense of despair at how fucked the world is. You want to live in a world where you don’t see a castle built on bones and lies and misguided views of superiority, where you could just _believe._ A world back when you really thought Fef might one day rule, even if you were a complete dickhead and saw yourself by her side. Even though no other heiress had survived the Empress.

Nowadays, you work in a system you’ve lost all your faith in. You don’t see what you’re helping them do as right, but if they knew that, you’d be no use to anybody. So you work. You put the hours in. You put up with shit like this.

Occasionally, you wonder how all your old social circle are doing, but until Sollux messaged you, you’d never spoken to any of them since you were drafted in. You know Makara’s a big shot in the Church, of course, and you heard that Serket is off somewhere being scandalous and horrible in one of the more glamourous colonies. Pyrope’s a legislacerator, just like she always wanted.

But you didn’t reach out to them. Well, it’s not like any of them would want to hear from you. You were That Guy, the one unwanted member, the person always on the edge who’s included only because he’s friends with someone who could actually be tolerated. No person in their right mind would have been friends with your younger self, and these days, you’ve kind of given up on making new friends. You’ve not been approached by anyone for quadrantship, and frankly, you don’t want to be. The navy kind of gives you immunity from that, and so does your status as a disgraced seadweller.

But what do you care? Once upon a time, you really did. You cared so much that you would flirt horribly with anything that moved or showed you the tiniest shred of affection. Nowadays, a quadrant seems like a huge waste of time and energy. You can barely take care of yourself, and even just being made to take care of Amphit for a little while is already draining you. You doubt that being around another person, caring for another person in the same way that you used to, would be good for anyone. You’ve a good idea of how it would go, too.

Right now, if you got a matesprit out of nowhere, you’d probably not be able to put in the minimum level of effort required. They’d get upset, and you wouldn’t want to lose them, so you’d overcompensate, freak them out with your clinginess, and burn yourself out in the process. You’d be a terrible matesprit. Or kismesis. Or moirail. And you’ve never really been good in the ashen quadrant. You just don’t have enough energy left with everything going on to do more than function like a normal troll.

And anyway, there’s been a lull, for you, in finding people attractive. Arguments usually bore you these days, because you’re surrounded by them, and kindness just makes you want to relax, which you can’t do. Your quadrants look to stay empty, and for once, that idea is a relief to you.

 

Carina rolls in at the very last minute, when Amphit is tucked up in his bunk and Denebe has curled up in his. She obviously expects you to be asleep, too, because her face crumples into a little scowl when she sees you, and she flounces into the bathroom after grabbing her pyjamas.

Well. So much for talking to her now. You sigh, just a little.

Of course, you could just see whether Captor would tell you, but you’re not that much of a bastard. Or rather, you are, but you do have to live with Carina, so you’re not going to be that much of a bastard when you have to literally live with the consequences.

It’s probably just something like seadwellers being dicks, anyway. Your class isn’t as well liked as they’d like to think, and certainly the lot of you (Amphit excluded on grounds of being a moron) are stuck up little whelps reared to help lead the empire in all its dysfunctional glory. She probably has a perfectly normal reason for hating seadwellers.

But the way Captor brought it up makes you think there’s something more. Plus, he said she had a history, which makes you want to know _why_ and _what_ and maybe get some insight into why she sees you and decides to take her chances with a knife.


	19. (Night 6) Drama is Bad for You

When you wake up, Amphit is still snoring, but Carina is doing her eye makeup in the mirror. Denebe is quietly sitting on his bunk, watching Amphit like a hawk, but drops his gaze when he sees you glare at him.

“Carina—”

“I’m not talking to you. You still have to look after the idiot.” She doesn’t even look at you. “If you’re feeling so chatty, go talk with him.”

“He’s sleepin’.” You narrow your eyes. “Besides, w-would the univ-verse really end if you just talked to me?”

“It might.” She still doesn’t look at you, and finishes up her eyeliner. “I’ve got to get to the mess hall. If you don’t want to be in hot water, you might as well wake up Sleeping Beauty over there.”

Amphit turns over, clutching his lusus toy. You still don’t get how he got picked by an octopod, especially when you’re stuck babysitting him. You guess that any medicarnage on a ship that primarily deals with land dwellers won’t exactly know how to factor in gills or fins when dealing with him, but you’re feeling worn out and it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours since he got his ass handed to him.

Carina grabs Denebe by the arm and tugs him upward. He follows her out the door, still sneaking glances at Amphit, who’s blissfully unaware and still asleep. You groan softly as the door shuts. You don’t want to wake him up and shuffle his weepy backside into the dining hall, but Carina’s right – you’ll get into hot water if the two of you skip breakfast, and while you’re allowed to work again today, he’s still kind of your responsibility.

Waking him up is slightly harder than you’d like it to be, but eventually you manage to get him upright and shove him into the bathroom. You almost wish he’d protest, because for one, you want an excuse to snap at him, but he also shouldn’t just _do what you tell him_. You have no idea why he’s like this, but you don’t want to make him cry again.

He comes out fully dressed, and wincing.

“It still hurts,” he whines, and you gently smack the back of his head.

“W-well, no _duh,_ chum-for-brains, that giant asshole stamped on your gills. Or near enough that you’ll be sufferin’ until it heals properly.” You tug him, much in the way that Carina was tugging Denebe. “If w-we end up bein’ late, I sw-wear that I’m gonna do w-way w-worse to you.”

He whimpers, and doesn’t resist as you pull him along. As you’re going along the corridors, you can hear soft whispering from the people you pass. Great. This morning is already fantastic.

You see Olympe sat down with Carina, but as soon as she sees you, she makes a worried little face and jumps up, scurrying off. You grit your teeth as she flees.

Olympe is another little mystery that’s been annoying you. She’s usually very nice, although in a familiar way, she’s nice to everyone. You can’t help being reminded of Fef when you see her. She treats everyone with the same amount of kindness, or so you thought, but you have no idea why she’s got her panties in a twist. She’s acting like it’s such a terrible thing that you’re not protecting Amphit from the consequences of his own actions, and she’s trying to use the fact you’re a seadweller against you.

You do want to talk to her, but it’s obvious she doesn’t want to talk to you. Fine. It’s not like you exactly have the time to chase after her and sort this out.

You wish that people were easier to deal with, but for some reason, they all decide to be complicated and cause trouble. You take Amphit up with you to the counter, and pick up a tray.

“I don’t think…I don’t think I can carry that,” Amphit whispers, like a wiggler confessing they need the bathroom. You glare at him.

“No duh. W-why do you think I’m holdin’ the tray?” You move so you’re standing in front with him. “I’m not makin’ you carry w-whatev-ver shit you’re gonna order w-with bruised gills.”

He looks intensely grateful, and you roll your eyes.

“Thank you, Ampora! That’s so—”

“Don’t. Don’t make me regret it, Triton.”

The use of his last name makes him move away from you very slightly, and you’re sure your tone of voice helps that along, too. The olive in front of you shuffles away from you too. You don’t want to cause a scene, so you let your expression become neutral as the two of you move along with the line.

“Hey, champ!” A troll passing by snorts at Amphit. “Heard you kicked ass yesterday—oh, wait! No! You got _your_ ass kicked.” He laughs.

Some loudmouth cerulean. You don’t know his name, but you know he’s not happy to have seadwellers on board, because he’s always a dick to you, too. You usually ignore him, but Amphit looks like he’s going to do something stupid.

“At least people know-w his name,” you say, as if you’re bored. “W-what w-was yours, again?”

He opens his mouth to say something, flashing sharp fangs, but you put a hand on Amphit’s shoulder and fix the cerulean with your best glare. You flare your fins slightly for extra effect, and when he flinches, he’s lost immediately and knows it.

“What’s he to you?” he snaps, as he walks away. “Fucking seadwellers.”

Oh, yeah. As if ceruleans are any better. You let go of Amphit’s shoulder and carry on walking with the line, ignoring the slight rustle of whispers.

_“Did you see that?”_

_“I heard seadwellers are up each other’s nooks, but…”_

_“Sirius had that coming, don’t you think?”_

You try not to hear them. You could do without this. You really could do without this when you haven’t even eaten breakfast yet.

The bronze behind the counter, when the short line frees up, gives Amphit a sympathetic look.

“Pancakes?” she asks, and he brightens a little. She begins stacking some while looking at you.

“Coffee. And…” You hesitate. Pancakes doesn’t sound so bad, but you shake your head. “Bread with grubsauce.”

You notice the bronze slip an extra pot of syrup onto Amphit’s plate, and he looks up at her with a grateful smile while she hands you both plates.

He’s so fucking grateful for everything. If someone put extra syrup on your pancakes, you wouldn’t look at them like they’d just saved your fuckin’ life. That shit is just embarrassing. _Amphit_ is embarrassing.

But at the same time, you did just do exactly what you told Olympe you wouldn’t. You’re sticking up for him, which you don’t want to do because it means people will start to treat you like the piece of shit seadwellers they’re used to. Maybe you used to be like that, but you’ve never acted like it once while you’d been on board the _Alecto_. You made sure to keep your head down, do your work, and stay out of everyone’s way.

You carry the tray over to the table, trying not to grind your teeth, and set it down gently on the table.

“Oh hey, Ampora.” Carina narrows her eyes at you. “Way to make an entrance over there.”

“Shut it,” you snap at her.

She slams a hand on the table. “What the hell even was that? Really? _Displaying_ at Sirius like he’s even worth it? Why’d you have to get involved, huh?”

“He’s a loudmouth, you’re a loudmouth. Go have w-wild, loudmouth intercourse and pollute the Mother Grub by ruinin’ the gene pool, w-why don’t you?” You tear a bite out of your bread. She snarls, and picks up a butter knife.

“How _dare_ you—”

“W-well, maybe I’m just sick ‘a ev-veryone decidin’ w-what I do, Vassel! I can’t _not_ stand up for Triton, I can’t stand up for him, I can’t leav-ve him alone, I can’t do _shit_ w-without you tellin’ me I’m doin’ the wrong thing! You’re so determined to hate me that you can’t ev-ven settle on w-why. An’ maybe – just maybe – I just w-want to do my w-work and eat my breakfast.” You snatch the butter knife from her as quickly as you dare, and drop it to the floor.

Beside you, Amphit is wide-eyed, fins pinned to the side of his head.

“You’re only defending him because he’s like _you_.” Carina’s baring her teeth now, and you sigh, exhausted.

“This is _exactly_ w-what I mean! You don’t listen, because…I don’t ev-ven know-w w-why!” You’re tired, and angry, and all of that is breaking down your filters, all the ones you’ve steadily kept in place throughout all this time on board. You’ve been careful, but right now, you can’t give a single fuck. “Look at him, Carina! He thinks he’s friends w-with you, and some asshole tried to pick a fight w-with him ‘cause he’s hurt. He’s hurt because of that little shit there. And I care the _least_ about any of you, and I’m the one that stood up for him, and you’re sittin’ there, giv-vin’ me shit for it! And I am so _tired_ of you actin’ like that!”

“Why is it _my_ fault that Triton thinks I’m friends with him?!”

“That’s not w-what I w-was sayin’!”

“Stop.”

The two of you turn to look at Triton.

And, oh, fuck, you just kicked the world’s tiniest barkbeast. His eyes are watering.

“I know Carina doesn’t want to be my friend,” he says, in a very tiny voice. “I know that. I just thought we could get along because we’re in the same cabin. I thought it would be good.”

Carina opens her mouth, but she doesn’t say anything. It feels like something’s come to a head, and she picks up her tray sharply, and walks away.

You figured he was too stupid to know that Carina disliked him, seeing as he’s too stupid to see why he shouldn’t be so nice all the goddamn time. You almost feel sorry for him, but instead, you pick up your bread.

“Eat your breakfast, it’ll go cold.”

“That’s harsh,” Denebe says, and in the heat of the moment, you’d forgotten he was also sat here.

“As harsh as getting’ someone injured?” you ask, looking at him evenly. He looks down, but doesn’t run off like Carina. Maybe, despite all the shit he pulled, he likes eating breakfast with everyone. He keeps looking over at Amphit, like he wants to say something, but you glare at him whenever you catch him.

Amphit, meanwhile, is pouring the extra syrup over his pancakes. For once, Denebe doesn’t steal one, and instead is pushing his own cereal around the bowl with his spoon. Whatever. You don’t have to sort out his drama.

You guess your chances of figuring things out with Carina are pretty fuckin’ shot now, though.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [ my twitter ](https://twitter.com/snowwritertype)


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